The Western End of Route 66

Jellyfish tank at the Santa Monica Aquarium

I picked up a cold in LA - probably due to jet-lag, and so decided to take it easy today as I was planning on going to Disney on Monday. At this point I regretted not using my LA City Pass the day before as most of the easy-going stuff I felt like doing was closed or had restricted hours on Sundays, or you had to book in advance.

Santa Monica Beach & Pier - view from Palisades Park

So I decided to go to the beach!

Santa Monica is really beautiful, albeit a bit touristy. There's a very famous pier called the Santa Monica pier which is the last point on the Route 66 trail.

By Santa Monica beach there is also Palisades park - just a stretch of grassy tree area as far as I could tell - and the Santa Monica Aquarium. Apparently there is also the original Muscle Beach here too but I didn't see that (or have any interest to).

The Santa Monica Pier as the sun was starting to drop in  the sky...

Entry to the Aquarium was included on the LA City Pass - it's only $5 (or Free for kids under 12) but I'm not sure I would have bothered if it wasn't included. It's run by "Heal The Bay" - a not-for-profit environmental group who also run bay clean-ups and educational workshops. The Aquarium is great if you're interested in rocks, bones, shells, and fish eggs - not so much if you want to sit and watch fishies and other sea creatures swimming about as there's not really very many to look at. They do have interactive activities like touching seaweed or doing shell rubbings though so probably worth it if you're being accompanied by small people.

Ferris Wheel at Santa Monica Pier

Historic Route 66: The End of the Trail
A little ironic that this is where I started my journey...
One day I intend to drive along the whole thing.

On the pier there is a fun fair - rides all day are also included in the City Pass; again, not a massive save, and something I wouldn't have paid to do separately, but I had a nice time going on the Ferris Wheel and some spinning cups etc.

There are also lots of shops - beach ones selling buckets and spades, touristy ones selling postcards and souvenirs, and then a few stalls with people selling handmade jewellery or driftwood carvings. Plus all the typical fun-fair food stands with hot dogs, churros and candy-floss. Towards land, there are also some restaurants like Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.

Just like everywhere in LA (and probably any major tourist destination or city), there are loads of buskers.

Santa Monica is Beautiful

Overall, I'd recommend visiting. Even if you're like me and completely adverse to all things sand, the views are spectacular!

Omaha Beach - Débarquement de Normandie

On 6th June 1944, American, British (and Commonwealth) and Canadian (and French) troops landed on the coast of Normandy in what is now the best known D-Day landings.

For the sea invasions (there were also air strikes and parachute drops), the coast was split into 5 sections: Omaha, Sword, Juno, Gold and Utah. British troops landed on the Gold and Sword Beaches, Canadian troops landed on Juno, and the American troops landed on Utah and Omaha.

I went to visit Omaha beach, which is near to the village of Colleville-sur-Mer. This is the largest of the 5 landing beaches, and was also the setting for the bloody, but realistic, beginning scenes in the film 'Saving Private Ryan'.

The beach is beautiful. We arrived as the sun was setting and it was very serene and peaceful. Had we not been trying to get to the American Military Museum before it closed (and had we had better shoes) we may have walked along it, but instead we stood on the sand-dunes and looked across the beach and out to see.

It is very sad to think about the tragic events of 6th June 1944. We were able to liberate this area of France and then liberate Cherbourg, and then Paris, because of the brave acts of these men, which ultimately was a big part of the French liberation and the winning of the war. For this, so many soldiers sacrificed their lives, and I think it is important to learn about these fateful events and to remember what their sacrifice has done for the freedom and future of France, Great Britain and many other countries.

Also near to Colleville-sur-Mer, is the Omaha Beach Museum. Unfortunately we didn't get a chance to visit this either, but perhaps we will when we go to visit the American Military Cemetery, which is also situated near to Colleville-sur-Mer.

All of these sites should definitely be visited at some point. I think it is really important to appreciate the history and to remember the men who died during the war so that they are Never Forgotten.

Un Parc en Bord de Mer

View of the park and sea from the car park

Today was Wednesday which means no School! So, I took Marc to the Park (excellent rhyme) while Fran went to 'Boobie Group' - a kind of Breastfeeding coffee afternoon support group with like-minded mums. The group is quite far away (can't remember where) but this means Fran has to go in the car.

As it was a lovely day, I thought me and Marc could go out and so Fran suggested a park near the beach as this was on the way. The park was near to the Navy base and had two really modern play areas, one of which apparently had lots of trampolines (we didn't go up there). It was also right on the beach and had lots of stony rockpool areas too!

Marc spent over an hour playing in the park. It had loads of fun stuff in it - small climbing frame with slides etc. for smaller kids, and a bigger one on the other side, lots of spinning and wobbling equipment too.

On one of the spinning things, Marc kept wanting to go faster and faster and didn't want to get off. After 5-10 minutes on this thing, he announces that he feels a bit poorly so I got him off. He told me that he felt much better now and was going to run to the slide (the slide being straight ahead). He started running, but ended up almost doing a U-turn and then fell over as he was so dizzy! I asked him if he was ok and he said 'yes, but first the sky was there (pointed up) and then it was there (pointing down)!' Hilarious!

'Let's go see the big carrer', says Marc. (Anchor)

Plaque by the Anchor

After the park we went down to the rocks, where Marc collected lots of shells and stones. He found some 'snail' ones - tiny crab/sea snail ones and kept putting them down on the big stones so that they could 'walk away'. I had to explain that these shells were empty so there wasn't a snail or otherwise to walk away with the shell!

Lovely views across the harbour to the forts

Information board showing where we were
in relation to the rest of the harbour/beach

Beautiful views

"Ah, the Big Blue. What's it like?"
"Urm... big... and blue...?"
"I knew it."

La Plage

On the sunny afternoon of Sunday 31st August, the family decided to go on a walk at the beach and invited me to go with them. They're very kind and have told me that pretty much anything they do as a family, I'm welcome to join in with if I want.

There's about 3 beaches (that I know of) in or very close to Cherbourg, what with the town being on the coast of the Cotentin Peninsula and all. The beach we went to was called 'La Plage Urville-Nacqueville' about 20 minutes drive away from home. It's quite rare for us to drive places as school, shops etc. are within walking distance.

The beach was sandy and there were lots of campsites nearby. Lots of wind too, a bit like a nice English beach really. There were lots of people windsurfing and doing other similar water sports.

We parked on the other side of the dunes and walked along the beach. They strapped Aurianne into a front baby carrier so that she could have a sleep. Fran took off her shoes so she could paddle and Marc rolled up shorts so he could splash.

After walking for around half an hour, Marc took a big jump and slipped, falling into the sea! He was soaked. We had a spare change of shorts, but not a spare top. Charly took off his jumper and wrapped that around him so he wouldn't get cold - it was too long though so they used a hairband to tie the back and keep it up. It was hilarious. He looked just like a little rabbit!

I carried around his t-shirt and jumper, letting it flap in the wind to dry. They were so wet I had to wring them out! It was working but after another 15 mins he started getting cold so we turned around and headed back. 

We got back to the car before his clothes were dry so he just sat in a different one of Charly's fleecy jumpers for the ride home. This one was tan coloured and almost came down to his ankles. Combined with his sandals he liked like a little Arab boy. Hilarious.

Some pictures of Urville-Nacqueville beach...

Les Fourmis et Les Sables

The Ants and The Sand! They are everywhere!

Last night I slept quite well but kept waking up. There was a thunderstorm at around 4am which was very loud but I didn't get up to see if there was lightening (the shutters on the windows block out all the light so I couldn't see any without getting out of bed).

I was woken up by the children at about 9am (about the same time I woke up yesterday) but apparently today 9am was quite late... When I got up I found that everyone was out or had already had breakfast so was left to fend for myself. This wouldn't be a problem but I have no idea where things are kept! After 10 minutes of searching for bread/milk/hot chocolate powder I gave up and went to get dressed instead. I decided to just get straight into my swimming costume and stick clothes on top as yesterday I couldn't be bothered to go swimming, partly because it was raining, but mainly because I would have had to go and get changed first.

When I was dressed the children came to talk to me to tell me that it was Hillaire's 12th birthday today and that Benoit was taking them out for a drive. I then talked to Hillaire in french about Magicians and card tricks - in french. It's a good job I have google translate on my phone because we would have no way of communicating clearly otherwise!

A French Breakfast
Bread with butter and honey,
a peach, and hot chocolate in a bowl
for Petit Dejuner!

After the children had left, their grandmother (I can't remember the grandparents' or uncle's names as they are just referred to as 'grandmaman', 'grandpapa' and 'Oncle') asked if I had eaten (in french) and when I said no, she said 'But you must!' (in English!) and marched me to the kitchen to show me where the bread, milk and chocolate lived. The milk is UHT and was stored in the laundry room (or the fridge once opened), the chocolate was in a cupboard in the hall, and the bread in a tall basket on the floor in the kitchen (looks like a wash basket but thinner and taller).

Gorgeous view for breakfast!

Alienor, Tanguy and Alice decided to go to the beach and invited me to join them. They were ready to go before I had finished eating though so I said I would catch them up. When I was getting ready to leave, 'Grandmaman' wanted to make sure that I wasn't needed by Benoit or Hélène so she called Benoit on the telephone to check. I tried to explain that they had gone out and wouldn't be back until later but I don't think she understood...As we arrived at the beach by around 10:15am there weren't many people there. The sun wasn't quite so hot either so that was good, but by 11am, there were lots of clouds and it got a bit cold and windy. Tanguy said that they come to Corsica nearly every summer and that this is a very cold summer for Corse. Apparently in July it is often too hot to walk on the sand in bare feet and the sea is lukewarm! It's a shame it's not like that this year!

I had a long swim in the sea while at the beach. I'm still not a very good swimmer, but I find that I can get myself about if needed. It's much more difficult in the sea though because of the varying depth, waves and current - and all the seaweed, salt and sand! I got some seawater in my mouth at one point. It is really disgusting! When I came out all the sand just stuck to me. I remember that this is why I didn't like the beach as a child... It makes it really hard to dry off because the sand is on the towel, and on you, and then it sticks to everything. I have sand in my beach bag, in the cracks of my sunglasses, flipflops, towels, and everywhere!! I'll be washing out of my clothes until October I'm sure!

At around 12 we walked back to the house. I keep forgetting to bring some money with me and every time I walk past the shop I remember about postcards! I will try to go tomorrow I think...

For lunch today, we had salad, bread, cheese, that dried meat stuff, tomato and onions, and the leftover baked courgettes. The children had pasta, a cream cheese sauce and smoked salmon. I think I would have preferred theirs!

After lunch I really wanted a nap after all the swimming in the sea, but because I hadn't spent any time with the children in the morning I felt obliged to sit with them for a while. Wandrille had a strop because he wanted to play with my phone, and then Hermine got upset because I tidied up the Loom bands (for some reason they have all claimed a selection as their own which they hide from everyone else... I don't understand why as pooling the supply would mean there was a much better range of colours to choose from. Very odd, but perhaps we would have done the same as children at home). I am still finding it very difficult to understand what the problem is when they get upset as it often seems like it comes from nowhere. Today I learned 'quel est le problème?' which will hopefully be very useful when they have tantrums in future!

My favourite phrase is still "qu'est-ce c'est?" [kes-ker-say] - what is it? I think I must say that about 100 times a day while pointing at things or repeating a word I don't know. Today I asked the children "qu'est-ce une grenouille?" which led to lots of 'crok, crok, crok' and demonstrations of hopping all around the room. (It's a frog, in case you didn't guess!) I told them that in England, frogs say 'ribbet, ribbet', but they said that was stupid and didn't sound like a frog haha.

Hélène asked if I could 'entrust you to the children'. She wanted me to watch them while she and Benoit went for a walk and told me that they had to go outside and that 'they will had a meal before 5pm so that they were still hungry for dinner at 7pm like bread or more bread'. In english, they have an afternoon snack but she wanted them to have a snack before 5pm... I let them play on my phone some more until about 4:30pm when I got them some bread. Hermine was being a bit of a brat and kept snatching things from Wandrille and getting stroppy, shouting at me in french - I still have no idea why. When I asked her if she wanted bread she shouted 'NON! TU NE SAVEZ PAS!', and knocked the bread onto the floor. I assumed this meant that she didn't want any so gave some to the others and didn't worry about her. She came back about 10 minutes later to discover that all the bread was gone (obviously) and then started crying and screaming (they make themselves cry and go off in a huff without telling you what's wrong, it's stupid). 

After they ate, Wandrille and I went swimming in the pool. Alienor and Alice (who had been baking a cake for Hillaire's birthday) came to tell me that I had to look after Hermine too because they were going to the beach and Hillaire and Anthelme had gone with Grandmaman to the shops. I really didn't want to look after Hermine too as it's hard enough having one child talking at you in french, but to have a second that just gets angry and impatient when I don't understand... I stayed in the pool for a long time. The sun came out so I just sat on a float and sunbathed - very nice! 

When I came out, I had a shower and then it was time for dinner. As it was Hillaire's birthday, the children were allowed to join the adults for dinner which they don't usually do. For aperitif is was that soup/salad thing again (still can't remember the name!) with bread. Grandmaman told me that it was greek, not french. There was a stewed leg of lamb (I think) in red wine and onion sauce which we had with pasta. For dessert it was birthday cake. The girls had made what they called a 'Piñata' cake - just a plain sponge with chocolate icing but when Hillaire cut into it, the middle was hollow and filled with sweets.

I was really tired and just wanted to go to bed so I cleared the table, filled the dishwasher, cleaned the kitchen and washed up so that I wouldn't get asked to put the children to bed and could just go to bed myself after. They were all very grateful (they told me that they had hired a chef/kitchen help for this week so that they didn't have to worry about food or washing up but she resigned at the last minute!) It didn't really work though as Hélène came to tell me that the younger children were in bed, but not asleep, and to make sure the older ones went to bed as she and Benoit were driving Alienor, Tanguy and Alice to a Party a few hours away. Tanguy would have just driven his dad''s car but last week when he did that, he returned the car with one of the rear lights completely smashed up (apparently his friend drove it into a tree or another car or something when drunk... but that's not the story the parents heard!)

There are ants everywhere too! When I was washing up, there were dishes swarming with them! It's disgusting! There are hundreds in the corridor outside my room too and last night there were several in my bed which I had to kill before I got in. After I washed up, I got a cloth and tried washing/wiping them from the floor in the corridor but they were coming out of holes in the skirting board/wall/plug holes etc. and whenever I wiped up some, within seconds the area would be swarming again! Really nasty. Anne (the aunt) says tomorrow she will find some more ant killer because they are getting too much now.

I got to try some macarons et chocolats from the Jean Luc Pelé Patisserie this evening. Anne and Grandmaman told me that he is a very famous Patisserie in France and that his sweets and cakes are very luxurious! I tried a strawberry macaron which had jam in the middle. It was very nice but so sweet I couldn't have eaten more than one!

Anne told me that she thought my french was getting quite good now. I definitely can say much more and she said I am doing much better at talking with everyone much more than I could before which is really good. I definitely am understanding more, but I still can't keep up with conversations. They all speak so fast! It's frustrating because they'll be talking about something and then all laugh and I don't always know the subject of the conversation, let alone the joke! Tanguy seems to be very good at telling jokes and stories - he gets very animated and does different voices and all sorts but I just can't understand! It's a shame because I expect it is very funny!

Time for bed now. There's lots of spiders and ants in my room but there's nothing I can do about it! 3 more days to go in Corsica...

Some pictures from my trip to the beach

Il Pleut Ici Aussi!

...but it is still very warm and beautiful.

This morning I woke up a little later - around 8:45am. The family was just getting ready for breakfast so it was good timing! I learnt today that they don't just have chocolate in a bowl, they have tea or coffee, but also in a bowl! I also tried honey on bread with butter and decided I quite like it. Honey must be an acquired taste as I haven't really liked it before.

It rained all morning but the boys went swimming in it. I decided that it was a bit too cold to go in so just sat by the pool getting wet from the rain instead! Wandrille fell off of an inflatable crocodile and got water in his eyes so had a strop and went inside! I am finding his tantrums very difficult to deal with as his speech gets very whiney and so it is even more difficult to understand his fast, high-pitched french. Some of the adults can't understand him when he's like that either though so I'm not the only one!

Everyone loves the loom bands! Hélène went to Carrefour this morning and bought more of the coloured bands because they were running out! We need to buy some more of the looms because there are hourly disagreements about who is using them, and the older girls keep wanting to make big patterns that use the whole loom so it can't be shared. I've been letting Wandrille do it on my fingers but it's quite painful after a while!

I realised yesterday that the 20yr old cousin of Wandrille, Hermine, Alienor etc. is not called Tommy but Tanguy. I'm just glad I haven't said his name to anyone!

For lunch, we had leftover potatoes from last night, stewed carrots, melon, cheese and meats. I find some of their combinations a bit strange!

After lunch, Anne (the aunt) went for a swim in the sea and then found a starfish (étoile de mer) in the rockpools which she brought back to show the children. I learnt all about starfishes, but in french! 

l'étoile de mer! 

The Starfish

I'm finding that my french is improving greatly. The children are very good at telling me that I'm pronouncing things wrong and telling me what things are in french. They all know how to get to the Google Translate app on my phone when needed! It is interesting how many different subjects we cover in french. I would never have expected to talk about space, the history of france, sea creatures and many other things but I have!

Wandrille and I read a book today. Well, I read it and Wandrille repeated what I said with correct pronunciations! The book was about the adventures of 'Big Jack' the pirate and his shipmates. He finds it very funny that I can't read! He told Hélène that he was teaching me to read and asked her why, as a grown up, did I not know how? With children's books, occasionally there are words that doesn't have a real translation into english. Today the unknown word was 'scrogneugneu' and Hélène tried to explain it but she said that it was like Harry Potter, ie. a Sorcerer or Wizard, but Alice said that wasn't right and that it couldn't be explained in English - 'it is just a french word', she said. I have just googled it and it looks like it's the french version of a Scrooge! (aka. a grumpy old man). French Wiktionary tells me it can be an interjection or a noun to describe someone, just like in English.

This afternoon the parents and children went for a walk so I decided to have a lie down. They all seem so offended when I want to be alone as though it's because I don't want to spend time with them. I tried to explain that it's not that I dislike their company, but that I was tired and wanted to have a nap but I don't think the message was getting across. I find it quite tiring to sit with them all as they pretty much only speak in french and it's really difficult to keep up with them all and to understand more than just a few words. I'm lucky if I can actually work out what the topic of conversation is when they're talking let alone to join in or understand specifics!

The correct way to lay a french table
(with the forks and spoons upside down!)

I set the table and was told by the german uncle that I was doing it wrong. In France, the correct way is to place the forks and spoons upside-down! Alienor said it didn't matter because they were on holiday but Benoit explained that it was the proper way to set a french table.

At around 7pm (slightly earlier than the past few days), they served the aperitifs. Just as it was served, Hélène asked me to run a bath for Wandrille and help him get into his pyjamas which meant that I missed out on it. I can't say I minded - it was the same salad/soup thing and tomato sauce as yesterday which I didn't really like. After the aperitifs, there was Bouillabaisse (a fish soup as featured in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - at the feast with the french and nordic schools, Hermione says it is very nice). They served it with toasted bread. After the soup, there was salad with french dressing, baked courgettes, cheese and more bread. For dessert, Alice had baked a cheesecake - the cheese flavour was quite strong but it was very nice.

I went to see the children after that. They were getting ready for bed. Hermine got very upset about something - no idea what. She then decided to move her bed so I had to remake it on the other side of the room. The grandmother told me that 'a la maison, les enfants ont une chambre par enfant' (they have a room each) so I told her 'c'est tres difficile partager une chambre avec trois freres' (it's hard to share a room with 3 brothers!) I was very impressed with myself!

I'm still very tired so I'm going to sleep now. Hélène is going for a walk with her father tomorrow morning so Benoit may wake me up very early to help with the children! I hope not!

Views from the Villa across the bay towards Porto Pollo.

The Pool in the Garden

The path leads straight to the sea via a
little path between bushes and some rocks!  

Mon Premier Jour en Corse

I am staying in a Villa in Belvédère-Campomoro. The views are stunning - we are a stones throw from the beach and have a view across the bay and further towards Porto-Pollo (another village that is further north on the West Coast).

This morning I woke up at around 7am but didn't want to get up. By about 7:45am I could hear a lot of voices so went to see who was awake. The aunt asked me if I wanted something to eat but it looked like she was still setting up breakfast so I went to have a swim with the children first which was very nice. The mother (Hélène) had mentioned yesterday that the youngest child, Wandrille (5 years old) was not good at swimming so needed to be watched by someone older so when I was ready to come inside I tried to ask Wandrille if he wanted to come inside. He either didn't understand or didn't want to but the 12yr old (Anthelme) told me he would watch Wandrille and that it was super. (He speaks a little bit of english but not much. Hélène later came to tell me off for leaving Wandrille all by himself and that he was too young, she told me, it was very dangerous etc. etc. I understand what she means but she just said 'older' to me, not an adult. Her english is really bad!

After my swim, I had a shower. Most of the rooms are ensuite but mine isn't. There is a toilet near the kitchen and then just a 'Spa' which has a Jacuzzi and a 'Hammam' (apparently this is the correct name for a Steam Room rather than our anglicised 'say what it is' thing we have) although this also has a shower in it. I've googled and it looks like there is a proper ritual for 'Hammam's which is to scrub off all the dry skin with hard scrubber things, and then paint yourself with a clay or mud mix and wait for a while, and then put some black soap stuff on and leave that for a while too before rinsing off (sounds a bit like my body wrap experience at Tortworth Court Spa....) The girls said I could use their shower if I needed to but there is already 3 of them in their room so when I went to  ask them if I could they said it was in use. Not many other people were around to ask so I just used the shower in the Hammam. It was fine, it just didn't have a shower hook on the wall so I had to hold it. 

I then came out for breakfast and had my first experience of french hot chocolate in a bowl! It is brilliant! I drink that much hot chocolate anyway and it's really milky. Hermine (7yr old girl) made me some in the microwave. Most of the adults had bread and honey and/or cheese and ham and fruit for breakfast. No croissants or pastries though *sad face*.

Hélène came in briefly to ask me to make sure that Wandrille had suncream on as she was going off for a swim. Then me and Wandrille did some loom bands (the ones I brought as a present for them). They all love them! Alienor and Alice told me that they haven't seen them in France but Alienor had seem them once or twice when she was in London. (She was Au Pairing but only for a month with a family friend).

For lunch, they had pasta, bread and salad and then cheese for dessert. They just put olive oil on the pasta but it was lovely (I think Mum puts too much olive oil on pasta when she does it!) After that, they had cheese and more bread. They had bought some local cheeses - goats cheese and a cow cheese but apparently they were unusual because they were made with raw (unpasteurised?) milk which the german uncle said was illegal in most EU countries.

After lunch I had a nap and then was woken up by Hélène who had come to tell me off for not putting suncream on Hermine (she didn't tell me to!) She had burnt a little bit but Hélène told me it was my fault because I had to make sure the children were 'wearing the sunscreams'. Hermine was in the pool where her mother went after telling me to put some on Wandrille so you'd think she'd have known seeing as she was already outside?! Alienor later told me that it wasn't my fault and helped me learn how to say 'have you got suncream on?' so I can actually ask the children tomorrow. I am really struggling to understand the younger ones - they don't speak any english at all and speak very fast. Wandrille is very high pitched and I think must have a bit of a childish lisp as he doesn't pronounce words very clearly. Hermine is quite good at repeating things several times for me or trying to explain things in a different way.

We all went to the beach at around 3pm and I had a swim in the sea. I think I'm better at swimming than I think as every now and then when the sea got deeper because of the tide or waves and I had to swim because I couldn't touch the bottom I was fine. I find swimming very tiring and my technique is probably very bad but it was ok. The beach was very picturesque and there are even fishes in the sea. I only saw one small one but I think we might go to the rockpools tomorrow as that is directly outside the garden gate! When I came out of the sea I had heat-rash style red bumps on my arms, tummy and legs so Hélène thinks I am allergic to suncream. I don't think I am though as I hadn't put any on before swimming this morning and it happened a bit from the pool too.

After swimming, Hélène and the famille went home but Wandrille wanted to stay so we made sandcastles 'chateaux de sable' though he mostly called it 'un fort'. We tried to make a moat but we had problems because I couldn't think of the word for 'moat' or 'river' or 'around' so settled on 'de l'eau'. Eventually I just got some water from the sea and made one but the water kept sinking into the sand. Turns out 'oh no' is a common phrase as he said that a lot!

Wandrille said he wanted the toilet so I kept trying to ask him if he wanted to go home but he kept saying non. I tried loads of different ways of saying it but then he got really stroppy and smashing sandcastles so I just started packing up the things and gave him his shoes! That worked! Haha.

Back at the villa we washed off and then it was nearly time for dinner. Dinner today was very odd... 

Hélène told me it was the "birthday wedding of her parents a to-monday" so I corrected her...
They had some strange cold onion and cucumber salad/soup with a type of chilli sauce - it had a very french name but I have no idea what that was. Also there was some strange spicy tomato sauce thing, and a black thing which I first thought was caviar but it was disgusting! They also had a massive bottle of Champage - un magnum pour celebrations. Champagne brings out flavours though so not the best thing to have after eating disgusting black stuff. I tried to eat it though as everyone else seemed to really like it. It just made me feel sick though!

L'aperitif!
Grapes
Tomato sauce stuff, Bread, strange Salad/soup,
Watermelon

For dinner they had freshly caught 'Dorade' (Sea bream) and some kind of sliced baked potato with herbs on it, and courgette. For dessert it was the leftover watermelon and grapes and a dessert wine from Corsica made with the 'Muscat' grapes which are very sweet.

I keep getting bitten by mosquitos. They are everywhere. I don't think I had seen them before but I'm covered in little red dots from the bites. Savlon seems to make it better though so that's good.

Alice et Alienor then asked if I wanted to go to the Spa so I went in the jacuzzi with them. They are very good at english. Alice goes to Camp America or similar camps in Canada every year so she is near enough fluent. Alienor is also very good at english but struggles with some unusual words. They were telling me all about french music, schools and exchanges.

It is very hot tonight! The weather forcast for tomorrow is rain apparently so not sure what we'll all do. If it's warm and just a shower I think I'll walk to the local shop to get postcards! If it's really bad then I think I'll just sleep. I'm aching all over from carrying heavy suitcases and swimming so could do with a resting day. That's if Hélène lets me... Jusqu'à demain!

La Piscine!